LEITH LINKS RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

WHAT HAS IT EVER DONE FOR YOU?

COME AND JOIN US AT THE LAST LLRA

MEETING OF THE YEAR

DATE: 24TH NOVEMBER 2015

VENUE: THE CRICKET CLUB ON LEITH LINKS.

TIME: 7pm (One hour only)

The Bar will be open

See details of our activities here:

www.llra.co.uk

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The simple answer is that it has done quite a lot and here are some examples of what it has achieved for our community.

PROSTITUTES, PIMPS AND DRUG DEALERS

About 10 years ago the retiring police inspector of Leith told prostitutes to leave the Rose

Leaf Pub area (which was due for re-development) and move to Seafield Road that was now

to be Edinburgh’s unofficial Tolerance Zone. However, the working women, together with

their accompanying pimps and drug dealers, didn’t just stay in Seafield Road. Instead, they

slowly moved from this new location and into the Leith Links area which was suddenly

turned into Edinburgh’s unofficial Red Light District. The impact was of course devastating

on our community and especially for women and young girls who could no longer use bus

stops or walk through The Links after 8 o’clock without the possibility of being approached

by a kerb crawler. The police did nothing and argued that this problem came very low down

on their scale of priorities. They responded to complaints but their efforts were half -hearted

and ineffective and kerb crawlers poured into our community on a daily basis.

The LLRA (against police advice) organised community patrols for over 7 months that went

out every night to target these kerb crawlers (not the working women). We held placards

telling them that there would be NO RELIEF IN LEITH and took down the numbers of

their cars which were then passed onto the police. Pimps, drug dealers, the working women

and the kerb crawlers of course threatened us. However, the patrols continued and the police

were eventually embarrassed into action. The LLRA also submitted a petition to The

Scottish Parliament asking for legislation to make kerb crawling illegal. Kerb crawling is

now illegal in Scotland and the police now have a far more robust approach to kerb crawlers.

Consequently, our area is no longer a No Go Area for women and girls wanting to take

evening walks in our community.

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BIO MASS INSTALLATION

About 5 years ago the price of land and property took a nosedive and Forth Ports were left

with a Housing Development Project down near the docks that nobody wanted to buy into.

Their solution was a proposal to build, in our community, the biggest Bio Mass installation in

Europe. This would attract government subsidies and Forth Port’s profits would

consequently rise. Forth Ports of course dressed this proposal up in green clothes and tried to

convince us that it would be good for our community and Scotland in general. However,

after conducting our own research, the LLRA discovered that these ‘green’ clothes didn’t fit

and were simply a clumsy attempt to hide the ugly side of this industry i.e. highly dangerous

pollutants (especially for pregnant women), buying the wood from Canada and beyond (the

carbon foot print was consequently massive) and an installation that would be lit up like a

football stadium on a daily basis for 24 hours and attracting hundreds of noisy and polluting

lorries, transporting the wood into the premises.

The LLRA (via our secretary Sally Millar) organised a campaign against this proposal that

involved e-mail petitions, liaising with our elected representatives, other interested

organisations, building a model of the installation (and wheeling it around the streets of

Leith) collecting signatures at the Kirkgate and writing articles for The Evening News. The

proposal was consequently scrapped much to the annoyance of Forth Port’s money-men and

the LLRA once again demonstrated that our community (as it once was) is no longer a push-

over.

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SEAFIELD SEWAGE WORKS

Seafield Sewage Works has been stinking out our community for over 40 years. It does so because Scottish Water refuses to invest in the technology that will stop these obnoxious gases from being released into our community. The technology required is very simple i.e. Scottish Water simply needs to put covers on the sewage tanks that contain the excrement from Edinburgh lavatories. Sewage tanks are covered throughout Europe and most recently in sewage works throughout England. However, Scottish Water has decided that the noses attached to Leithers are less sensitive than those attached to the faces in other communities and can consequently continue to live within clouds of Hydrogen Sulphide (the main gas produced by Sewage Works).

OUR CAMPAIGN SO FAR

(a) Building a Giant Turd and piping it down to The Scottish Parliament.

(b) Submitting a petition to The Scottish Parliament with over 10 thousand

signatures requesting new odour laws which were subsequently written into the Water Bill.

(c) Conducting a robust campaign through National television, newspapers, parliament, community meetings etc and sustaining reputational damage on Scottish Water.

(d) Encouraging our ineffective Council to serve Enforcement Notices on Scottish Water (which led to fines) and to organise inspections of the site by experts in odour control.

(e) Sustaining a campaign that has led to Scottish Water investing £18 million pounds in odour control measures (which isn’t enough).

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Scottish Water has stubbornly refused to cover the sewage tanks that would cost another £20

million pounds so the LLRA intend to sue this company (and The Council) for negligence.

However, there is a problem. Scottish Law does not currently permit Multi-Party Action,

which would allow a lawyer to represent a community on a no win, no fee basis. English

Law does permit this and the residents of Sandown Docks in Liverpool successfully sued

their Water Company for over £20 million pounds that led to each person receiving in the

region of £4000. More importantly it led to the sewage tanks being covered.

The LLRA has consequently submitted a petition to The Scottish Parliament for legislation that will allow Multi-Party Action in Scotland. This petition has led to The Justice Directorate requesting a meeting with the LLRA to discuss the details of this legislation which they hope to have in place either during this parliamentary session or the next. When it gets passed lawyers will of course be lining up to represent us.

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IF I GET INVOLVED WILL IT TAKE UP A LOT OF MY TIME?

Most of the time, armies throughout the world do nothing. However, when an issue occurs

there is furious activity. This is also true of the LLRA. Most of the time we do nothing (we

don’t even hold meetings). However, when there is an

issue that is threatening our community we come

together, pool our talents and organise robust, edgy and

effective strategies that will make the threat go away.

So the simple answer is that if you get involved with

the LLRA it will not dominate your time. We even

refuse to hold meetings unless there are real issues to

discuss and even when these meetings are called we

limit their duration.

We hold two money making social events each year

(quiz/racing night) to fund our work and that’s it, apart

from those times when intense activity is required. If

the LLRA is to continue to stand up for our community then we need new blood. There is a

£10 life membership fee (£2 for pensioners and the unemployed). So if you think you can

make a contribution please come to the following meeting, introduce yourself and join up.

THE MEETING

DATE: 24TH NOVEMBER 2015

VENUE: THE CRICKET CLUB ON LEITH LINKS.

TIME: 7pm (One hour only)

The Bar will be open

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THE COUNCIL HAS GIVEN UP ON TRYING TO CONTROL THE

SEAFIELD STENCH

The one effective weapon that Council Officials can use against Scottish Water is an

ENFORCEMENT NOTICE. This Notice can be served when Seafield Sewage Work creates

an ‘odour nuisance’. It sustains reputational damage on Scottish Water and financial

penalties are applied. The company is also obliged to prevent the odour occurring again.

When Council Officials served an Enforcement Notice this year, Scottish Water made it clear

that it would appeal through the courts and our Council officials (not wanting to invest

money in a Court case) made the decision to withdraw this sanction.

The official concerned couldn’t say that it was for financial reasons because that would be

admitting that Enforcement Notices were no longer financially viable and would

consequently never be served again. Instead, he argued that Scottish Water had corrected the

fault in the plant, which had been the cause of the odour

and the Notice was consequently withdrawn. We argued

that if Traffic Wardens used the same argument then

traffic tickets would never be served i.e. if a ticket is

withdrawn because the motorist corrects his parking

offence by driving away then the ticket would of course

cease to be a sanction.

Tommy Sheppard, our new MP, has arranged a meeting

with the Government’s Water Industry Policy Team

leader where amongst other things we will express the

concerns above.

In the meantime perhaps you might like to e-mail The

Council Official who withdrew The Enforcement

Notice and ask him for an explanation. Perhaps you

could also point out that the Seafield Sewage Works is

still stinking i.e. his current argument is that complaints

have dropped so the problem is improving.

stuart.graham@edinburgh.gov.uk

Alternatively you could ring 0131 200 2000 each time an odour occurs and

make an official complaint.

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WHAT IS AN HMO AND WHY ARE THEY POTENTIALLY

DANGEROUS FOR OUR COMMUNITY?

HMOS stands for House of Multiple Occupation. Anybody wishing to rent out residential

accommodation to three or more people unrelated to each other, must fulfil all the

requirements needed to get an HMO licence (and must BEFORE THAT) get planning

permission to alter their house if/ as necessary). There are many of these HMOs all over the

city of Edinburgh, most notably occupied by students.

There has been an issue in Leith and in particular the Leith Links area because of a disproportionately high number of HMOs used by the Council as temporary accommodation for homeless people, which can lead to problems with anti-social behaviour. The Council has agreed in principle to cut down on this and spread such accommodation more equitably across the city in future, but there are still many HMOs in Leith Links, occupied by all sorts of tenants. Landlords, especially those who own several properties, make A LOT of money from these.

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We all know that there is an urgent need for accommodation, and a shortage of affordable rental options, particularly for young folk and those new to the city. HMOs can help to meet this need. But it is really important that (a) tenants, especially vulnerable people, are not exploited by landlords who may take large rents for substandard accommodation and / or pursue unscrupulous practices, and (b) that local residents in the community are not distressed by unneighbourly behaviour by tenants or by poor property maintenance by landlords. Landlords can be forced by the Council to remedy problems and HMO licences can even be revoked by the Council if there is evidence of serious problems.

Therefore, if you live near an HMO and experience problems (e.g. noise, mess) or if you note that an HMO is proposed near you, in a property that you feel is inappropriate (the sign will be attached outside the property, giving the date by which objections should be lodged) please do something, not nothing! Phone the police ( tel 101) immediately in case of abuse or extreme nuisance, and make sure your call is logged and given a reference number. Contact LLRA for advice and support if necessary.

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OTHER COMMUNITY ISSUES

Notes from Bob Ballantine, our representative on the Leith Links steering group:

LEITH LINKS REGENERATION GROUP

Leith Links is a public space shared by

many, and the views of all locals are

welcomed and valued. The Leith Links

Regeneration Group meets quarterly to

look at ways the Links can be improved.

The group is made up of representatives

from local users of the park which include

Council officials, the Community

Council, Cricket Club, Leith Links

Residents Association, elected City

Councillors, Leith Rules Golf Society and

others. A long term aim is to achieve

'premier park' status but this still seems far

off, as money is very tight and steps

forward seem slow. If you have a grouse, or a brilliant idea for improvement, get in touch!

Past successes include the new tennis courts, and improvements to the cycle path. Vital

drainage work has been carried out. Ongoing issues include:

CROPS IN POTS - Leith Community Croft

You may have noticed new activity over on the John's Place

edge of the Links, in the past year or so. Crops in Pots have

been developing a derelict space into productive garden

plots. This is a community garden not just allotments and all

are welcome to come and look around or to get

involved.There is a future development plan, still very much

in consultation, that includes a nature play area for children,

schools project area, and possible use of buildings for a

cafe.

(http://www.leithcommunitycropsinpots.com/croft-development-plans.html)

CONDITION OF LINKS After last year’s drainage work, the scars have been slow to disappear, partly due to weather

conditions.

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BENCHES

The Community Council has long been making a plea for

the replacement of benches that were removed some time

ago, and asking for more benches, and this matter is

apparently being looked into. Some benches are stored

elsewhere which could perhaps be brought into use.

MELA EVENT

The huge Mela event each August/ September is

welcomed by the community but damage can be caused to the park by vehicles etc. especially

in wet years. The event pays a 'bond' to the Council of around £3K for reparation works

needed and if more damage than that is caused the Mela are charged for the excess. A joint

“before and after” inspection should be carried out.

LEITH ATHLETIC

Leith Athletic lease pitches on the Links from the Council. Everyone greatly values the work

of this football club with youngsters in our community but some object to the extent to which

they sometimes seem to occupy ALL available space, chasing off other park users. They do

not 'own' the whole Links, and the Council has recently been reviewing which areas are

actually designated for pitches.

BIN MOVEMENT

Although the Group objected strongly, the Council is going to

proceed with moving all bins to the outer edges of the Links, for

(they say) Health and Safety reasons (as they are easier to

empty). Notices will appear on the bins shortly. An undertaking

to monitor the situation was obtained from the council.

JOHN RATTRAY STATUE

Funds are still being raised (privately, from golf clubs and others) for this planned statue of

the founder of golf, to be erected at the Links Gardens/Salamander Place edge of the Links.

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JOINING THE LLRA

There is a Life Membership fee of £10 (£2 for O.A.P and the unemployed). Cut out the membership form below and send it together with the fee to:

Robert Kirkwood 7 Prospect Bank Road

EH6 7NR All enquiries to:

Chair Rob Kirkwood (Email: rob.kirkwood21@gmail.com, Tel:538 7581) Deputy Chair

Chris Greive (Email: chrisgreive@gmail.com) Secretary Sally Millar (Email: sally.millar@ed.ac.uk, Tel:554 8174)

Treasurer Dougie Bowers (tel. 553 6132)

http://www.llra.co.uk/

MEMBERSHIP FORM

Name _____________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________ e-mail _____________________________________________ Tel. _____________________________________________